Heady Stuff (a McRoll in the REAL World story)
by sammy1026
Summary: Mary calls Steve and Catherine to talk about a few things.


_Mary & Ilna—thanks for the continued friendship and support. It means the world to me. _

_Sandy—you are the awesomest awesome that ever awesomed._

 _REAL Worlders—you guys are amazing and your continued support and enthusiasm has me as excited, if not more, about this project as I was the day we launched._

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 **I had several requests for the telephone call from the end of Atlantic City. Here it is.**

 **Heady Stuff (1/1)**

 **McGarrett Rollins Home**

 **Saturday 6:05 P.M.**

Steve and Catherine were relaxing on the deck after an afternoon divided evenly between doing chores, playing with Cammie and energetic shower sex, when Catherine's tablet alerted them to an incoming Skype call from Mary.

As soon as the call was connected they were met with a close up view of Joanie's face. She was obviously leaning as close to the camera on Mary's laptop as she could get and the image made both Steve and Catherine laugh out loud.

"Hi Unka 'Teeve! Hi Ann Caf!" she squealed happily.

"Hello, Joanie," they laughed in unison.

"You're a little too close there, peanut," Mary said as she lifted the toddler up and sat her on the couch. "There, now Uncle Steve and Auntie Catherine can see you better."

"You comin' my house?" she asked hopefully.

"Soon," Catherine assured her.

"Now?" the excited toddler began to wiggle in her seat.

"Not tonight," Mary said as she smoothed her daughter's hair down. "But soon."

The answer seemed to placate Joanie who wiggled off the couch and headed for her basket of toys in the corner of the room.

"So," Mary said. "I just wanted to call because … well it seems like the Tony Bennett concert was a big hit."

"I think a big hit might be an understatement," Catherine smiled. "Mom said Nonna and Grandma Ang are so excited she doesn't think they'll be able to get to sleep for hours."

"They both texted us and told us they'd give us a full rundown tomorrow but right not they're too busy reliving the night," Steve added. "But it was clear they had the time of their lives."

"That's good," Mary beamed. "I'm so glad. They both texted me too, to thank me for working so hard to get the backstage passes."

"I know it meant the world to them," Catherine said sincerely. "Mom and Dad said Tony Bennett literally could not have been nicer and he spent a lot of extra time talking to them."

"It would be hard not to be taken with Nonna and Grandma Ang," Steve smiled. "Who wouldn't want to spend as much time as possible with them?"

"Excellent point," Mary nodded. "I know this sounds stupid but … " her voice trailed off and she toed the carpet. "Never mind."

"What is it?" Catherine asked. Mary was getting more and more comfortable opening up about her feelings and Catherine wanted to make sure she felt free to talk about anything.

"It's just … they both sent me these amazing texts about how grateful they were for the chance to meet Tony Bennett and thanking me for making it happen and telling me they're proud of me and how much they love me."

"That's great." Catherine could tell by the tone of Mary's voice there was something else. "But?"

"It's not a but … not really … not in a bad way … nothing like that … " Mary waved her hand as she looked back at the camera with an embarrassed smile. "It's silly really."

"Don't let silly stop you," Steve chuckled. "I spent several hours last night worried that Grandma Ang and Nonna were ordering pay-per-view-porn and at one point I tried to convince Catherine to get on a plane and go to Atlantic City to handle the issue. It doesn't get a lot sillier than that."

Mary's face broke into grin. "They really took you and Danny for a ride. You two are so easy when it comes to them."

"Yeah well … message received and I'll never make that mistake again," Steve said good naturedly.

"What mistake? Being over protective? You really think you'll never do that again?" Mary asked incredulously. "Have you ever met you?"

"I'm going to try to do better," Steve said determinedly.

"Keep that in mind when you meet Aaron," Mary warned.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he smirked.

Catherine smiled as she watched the playful back and forth between the siblings that left a huge smile on both their faces.

"What was the silly thing?" she asked.

"It's just that … when they texted they each sent the message to just me. You know what I mean? It wasn't a text thread that included everybody. It was just me. I know it sounds stupid and I'm probably not explaining it right … " she trailed off again.

"No, I know exactly what you mean," Steve said softly. "I felt the same way the first few times Elizabeth or Joseph called or emailed just to talk to me."

Catherine smiled and squeezed his hand, encouraging him to continue. She knew that discussing the feelings would be good for both Steve and Mary.

"I'd always say 'Cath isn't here' or 'I haven't seen Cath in weeks' if I was deployed and they'd say 'I know I wanted to talk to you'." Steve smiled at the memory. "It's heady stuff."

"It sure is. It shows me they think of me as more than Steve's sister. Like a member of the family on my own. I know it's probably stupid."

"It isn't," Catherine said. "It's amazing. I know they both love you and Joanie and I'm glad you feel that."

"It feels good," Steve said softly.

"It sure does," Mary agreed.

When both Steve and Mary began to fidget Catherine stepped in to rescue them from feelings overload.

"Being part of the family isn't all backstage with Tony Bennett though," she teased. "It looks like the Cubs may make the playoffs this year so you'll be on the receiving end of hundreds of texts calling them Bums when things go badly and insisting the curse is finally over when things go well."

"I can't wait!" The look on Mary's face was such genuine happiness Catherine and Steve couldn't help but return it.

In a flash Joanie came back into the picture holding a black plastic bag adorned with ghosts and pumpkins out in front of her. "Twick or Tweet," she squealed happily.

"Trick or Treat?" Catherine laughed. "It's not Halloween yet."

"Candy!" Joanie dropped the bag and clapped happily.

"We were in the store the other day and they had all their Halloween stuff out," Mary explained. "She was fascinated by it and we've been talking about it practically non-stop ever since."

"You have to take video of her trick or treating," Catherine pleaded. "It'll be adorable. Have you decided on a costume yet?"

"Not yet," Mary chuckled. "She changes her mind every time she sees a new one. We looked online for a little bit and she wants to be a princess, a cat, a lion … you name it."

"Knowing Joanie at least she won't be shy about knocking on the doors," Steve said.

"They don't do that here," Mary said, trying and failing to hide her disappointment. "The kids all go to the community center and the employees pass out candy. They get to say 'trick or treat' but it's not the same."

"Oh no," Catherine said, sharing Mary's disappointment. "Every kid should have memories of traipsing around the neighborhood with a mask falling over their eyes knocking on doors."

"I know," Mary nodded. "But the homeowners' association disagrees."

"You should come here," Steve suggested out of nowhere.

"That's a great idea." Catherine was onboard immediately. "You should. Halloween is on a weekend this year. You can come and stay for a few days and Joanie can see what real trick or treating is like."

"Are you sure?" Mary asked. She loved the idea of spending Halloween on the island and couldn't think of a single reason not to take Steve and Catherine up on the invitation.

"Positive," they said in unison.

Mary turned to her daughter. "Do you wanna go trick or treating with Uncle Steve and Auntie Catherine, peanut?"

Joanie immediately began to dance around the room singing.

"I think that's a yes," Mary laughed.

"It's settled then," Steve said happily.

"Ok," Mary returned his smile. "Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the invite. Now I better get this one in bed before she gets her second wind or we'll be up all night. Come say goodnight." Mary held out her arms to Joanie.

"Night night Unka 'Teeve. Night night Ann Caf," Joanie said in a sing song voice.

"Night, Joanie," they replied. "Sleep tight."

"You too," Joanie bubbled as she blew kisses.

Steve and Catherine caught the kisses and blew some of their own back.

"We'll talk to you soon," Catherine said.

"Count on it. You guys have a good night."

"You too."

Catherine disconnected the call and laid her tablet on the arm of the chair. When she looked over at Steve she saw him carefully studying the deck railings.

"What are you thinking?"

"We don't really have many decorations … you know … holiday stuff. For the house," he said thoughtfully.

"We have a few things but not many. You're right," Catherine agreed.

"Maybe we should get some," he suggested. "You know … if having family over at the holidays is gonna become a regular thing."

"Which I hope it is," she smiled softly.

"Me too." Steve nodded. "So it might be nice to make things a little … I don't know … festive."

"We can start looking online for some things." Catherine reached for her tablet.

"You're much better at that kind of thing than me. Maybe you should pick them out."

"Well do it together." Catherine squeezed his forearm and he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "This is _our_ home and the decorations should reflect _our_ taste. Besides, I know your secret, Commander Softie. You love this kind of stuff."

"I never did until you moved in," Steve said tenderly.

Catherine leaned her head on his shoulder and they looked at the ocean for a few minutes. "There's some leftover fish in the refrigerator. That sound okay for dinner?" she said.

"Perfect." Steve shrugged his shoulder until she raised her head then tugged her into his lap. "Then afterward I'm gonna show you I'm the furthest thing from Commander Softie."

Catherine grinned. "I can't wait."

 **THE END**

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